


Flip

by collapsingStars



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Hurt, M/M, Quadrant Confusion, Stress, quadrant flipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 01:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/616611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/collapsingStars/pseuds/collapsingStars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had started out blacker than pitch, what they felt for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flip

It started blacker than pitch. How much he and Vantas hated each other. He was just such an ass, and insufferable prick, they had thought of each other. And dear Gog the blood that had been shed when they had kissed that first time had left them both light headed. Karkat explained to Dave what black romance meant and what it entitled. And to be honest it sounded easy. He had hated the prick, watching him from a distance, and his loudness, they way he yelled and thought he was the best leader ever. It was easy to hate Karkat Vantas.

But humans are damn terrible at being black.  


The time he spent with Karkat and the better he got to know him outside hate-make-outs was substantial. Karkat would seek him out, not just to take his frustration out on him, and as much as he wouldn't admit it, KK would rather talk than just scar the crap out of his mouth. They would insult each other and the tiniest bit of pity would creep into Dave's skull to just ask Karkat what was wrong. And Karkat would sigh and sit on his bedroom floor and complain at him. Dave supposed it would have stayed black if he wasn't the only one Karkat had to talk to. But his morail was off doing Gog knows what, so Dave felt it only right for his freaky troll partner. So he helped Karkat and found out several things.  


Like that Karkat rarely ever thought positive of himself. That most of the time his ranting was a facade he put on to not seem needy and to protect himself and his friends from harm. That he deeply cared for his friends. That he felt like a piece of shit that so many of them were dead. That he wasn't supposed to cry over the dead, it happened all the time on Alternia but he cried anyway. That he didn't really think of himself as a leader, just that there was no one else to do it. That he had hoped that being a leader would prevent him from being culled by some of his friends for his mutant blood color (red was apparently a bad thing). But it didn't matter now and he felt no one needed him.  


He had 99 problems plus one. Many of which Dave shared.  


And the longer Dave listened the more pity crept into his brain. The more he felt sorry for Karkat. Karkat's 99 problems were stuff he was born with and the one was this damn game. He just kinda wanted to cheer Karkat up and see him smile. Eventually it was hard keeping up a hate-make-out session. Dave tried to deny that he felt pity for the troll. But eventually it grew more and more, especially when Karkat helped him in return after...Gamzee. Dave woke up and listened to Kanaya scold him for going after Gamzee and tell him about Karkat. When Dave learned that Karkat had helped him through the worst that he couldn't remember, he lay there in his bed and had to admit to himself that he was....  


...in love with Karkat Vantas.

…

Gog Fucking Dammit Dave.  
Karkat didn't know what to feel anymore. It must be a freaky mutant thing how this feeling could exist. He had heard of flipping but...  
Strider was his kismesis. It was a long time coming too. But it was glorious to be able to claw at someone and expel his extra rage upon. Karkat had 99 problems plus one and Dave was just there to take them all. Karkat could complain all he wanted and Dave wouldn't insert and just take the brunt. And then they would tear at each others lips and then be able to move on with life and Karkat would feel better if only until the next day.  
But damn if he didn't feel differently all of the sudden. He couldn't explain it.  


He wondered why Dave would take the brunt of his rants. Was it some human thing? Maybe he was just building up Karkat's weaknesses against him so that he could blackmail him at a later date. A good kismesis would. But if Dave wanted something from Karkat usually he just played cool and made Karkat mad and whatever Dave wanted would happen. So he just took Karkat's crap.  


And the pity started to seep into Karkat's own heart. Just the little bit that felt sorry for Strider, having to listen to his pitiable self. Wait pitiable? No he was sure that Dave hated him, that is the only reason he listened. But Karkat couldn't bring himself to hate Dave wholeheartedly.  
Especially after the Gamzee incident.  


Dave was dumb enough to strife with a sober Gamzee. After getting beat up pretty bad it took a good hour to shoosh Gamzee back into his corner, and then Karkat ran to attend to Dave. He found him lying in the middle of Karkat's room bleeding all over the floor. He was tempted just to haul him to his own room and leave him there but that damn that bit of pity, that he had helped Karkat with the day to day things even if just by ranting at him, that crept into his brain. Karkat hauled him up and took him to his own ablution trap and sprayed cold water all over Dave until he was breathing again. And then bandaged him up. And in the process ended up listening to Strider rant as his way to ease through the pain, like being music to his own ears, and Karkat ended up learning a ton about his kismesis.  


The fact that Dave wanted to be as cool as his brother Dirk. How he hated his Bro for leaving him for a long time to fend for himself to just strife with him and take off again. How he was in awe that even when he was around that Bro always had his shit together. How Dave wished he could be like his brother and not have all this feeling. Dave wanted to be able to be cold, be distant. That way he could just take care of all the problems and then no one would ever have any at all. That Dave hated how much he cared how people thought of him and that he cared about all of them so much he would die for them. And had. Several times. Dave felt like if he didn't put up this facade then he would just crumble into fear and insecurity, that he wouldn't be able to measure up now to the high standard he had set for himself. And so he kept going until he just burned his battery out. That was why he had gone looking to battle Gamzee to make himself feel stronger.  


Though Dave would remember saying non of it. That was the beautiful miracle (Karkat laughed at himself) in having one of those fevers. He knew Dave wouldn't die being God Tier and all, but he could still get fevers from the infected cuts and the bad concussion Gamzee had given him that night. Once the fever broke and Dave fell asleep, Karkat fled to his own room, asking Kanaya to take care of him now. She had turned out to be the best damn nurse.  
Karkat's blood pusher hurt so badly. Denial hurt his head.  


The pity he felt for his kismesis had taken over his brain. He understood Dave's insecurities completely. They were the same one's he personally faced. The inability to stand up to the standard of bad-assery necessary for this damn game, for their own damn selves, and to take care of their friends. Maybe that was why Dave had listened to Karkat rant. Maybe Dave understood and just hate made out with him to get him to feel better. But Dave was getting no help at all. He just kept a poker face or smirked to keep them all under the delusion that he had it together.  


And how many damn times had Karkat wished that Dave would just smile, for him. That he could make Dave genuinely smile. It would take a miracle.  
Especially when Dave hated him. But Karkat didn't have it in him to hate Dave anymore. He sighed and felt his his blood pusher flip from it's black spade to the bright, rosy, red heart.  


Karkat was completely flushed for Dave Strider.  
…

Dave was good in about three days. Kanaya set to let him go around 9 in the evening. He was still sore around his head for the concussion with the juggalo clubs but other than that he was just fine. Okay he still had to wrap a lot of his wounds up but....  


The first thing he wanted to do was find Karkat. Dave had spent a decent amount of time while being fussed over by Rose and Kanaya (they were perfect for each other in their fussiness Gog) how to approach Karkat with the idea that Dave didn't exactly hate him anymore.  
Dave was fucking nervous as he approached Kat's room. Dave didn't even know of it was possible for Karkat to want to flip red, or if trolls even thought that was acceptable. Dave didn't want to be shot down because if Karkat didn't want to flip red then this was definitely a break up visit. Because Dave didn't have it in him to hate Karkat at all anymore. He gathered all his shits together.  


He arrived and knocked on Karkat's door softly.  


“It's open fuckass.”  


“How could you have possibly known it was me?” Dave gave the usual smart-ass response to break the ice. He closed the door behind him. Karkat was sitting in just one of his overly large sweaters that Kanaya had made him. It went to his freaking knees. The sleeves were pushed up around his elbows and his legs were tucked under himself. He had his hands in his hair and his head leaning toward his desk where he curled up on his stool. He didn't look up from the multicolored scroll popping up on his troll log.  


“Kanaya let me know you were up and about this morning. And no one but you ever comes looking for me so...”  


“I'll have to remind her to let me get the drop on you next time.”  


Karkat turned to look at Dave. He was wearing his old broken record tee and black jeans. Karkat could see the bandages still wrapped around his chest. They stood out a brighter white, under the white. They lumped under his sleeves. Karkat sighed.  


“Whatever nooksniffer. How bad did he get you?”  


“Pretty bad. I guess I deserved it for irritating him though. Might have taken my head off if you hadn't gotten there.”  


“And you are why I set up the rule. Don't go looking for the insane clown. Big no no. I wonder whether or not your deities would have just let you die out of stupidity. Who cares about your fucking heroic exports to die. Dave is just an idiot.”  


“Ouch.” Dave said dead pan to move behind Karkat after her turned to see what he was doing. “That hurt Karkles.”  


“Oh fuck you.”  


“Anytime babe.”  


“No I retract that statement.”  


“What you up to?” Dave tried to change the subject. He didn't want to end up in a hate-make-out. That would defeat the purpose.  


“Issues stuff.”  


“Want to tell me about all 99.”  


“No not at the moment. Just the one that is laying most heavily.”  


“Hmm...” Dave sighed against Karkat's left ear and felt him shudder a small bit.  


“The alchemizer is bust. It was bust when we got it but Sollux made it work. But time just wore it out and now we've got food for only about four more days. And they just told me this today. And fuck it all we've still got a ton of time before Harley and crew get here and we might DIE BEOFRE THEN...”  
Dave hugged Karkat from behind to get him to stop the freak out session he could feel coming on. Karkat really needed to calm down. There were a thousand other machines in this place that could potentially make some sort of substances. He felt Karkat gulp and lean back into him. Wrapping his arms around Dave's neck to lean up. Karkat sighed.  


“There are a lot of other machines around here that we could use to make food. You need to sleep at some point. That is not the only thing keeping you up...?”  


“No. Gamzee's missing. Sollux and Aradia are stuck somewhere in a dream bubble. Nepeta's alternate dead time line ghost keeps coming into my room somehow confused that I am not the dead Karkat that she is matesprits with and now I really don't want to sleep to avoid that.” He takes a shaky breath. “And I was really fucking concerned about you. Rose thought that you trying to live after a battle was noble so it got into my brain that you might die after-all... than who would I complain to? DAMMIT I CAN'T TAKE CARE OF EVERYONE!”  


“You cared?”  


“Of course...” He looked up and then away, taking his own arms with him down into his lap. “Of course I cared.”  


Dave pushed his glasses up over his head to look at Karkat, who wasn't making eye contact. Dave tried to push down any nervousness to no avail. He crept around and down to Karkat's height. Taking one of his own shaky hands he held Karkat's face and turned it to look him in the eye. His eyes were starting to turn red, his blood color. Like red-hot lava running under a recently rained on, cracked sidewalk. And it was just starting to seep through the cracks like he knew they existed while the volcano nearby flicked red hot flakes over the top.  


Damn he was getting good at this troll-poetry thing.  


But despite the wonder Dave found in them know they were slightly red stained at his yellows. Like he was stressed, like he had been crying. It hurt Dave's heart to think of all the stress his, HIS, little troll was going through.  


Karkat balked a little at Dave's eyes. He had never quite observed the stunning red that shone through the albino's dark glasses that hid them. But as long as Dave just kept staring he noticed that they weren't all red. There was this little speck of gold that ringed around the edge. Flecks of it closer to his iris. Like a gold mountain had exploded near one of the pools of red liquid on his planet Pulse and Haze and it was just floating at the top. It was so fucking beautiful. But he looked tired after Gamzee's fight.  


Karkat's breath hitched in his throat.  


Dave stopped breathing altogether.  


Insecurity grabbed them both at the same time and they leaned the opposite directions when they realized they were closing in on each others faces. They looked anywhere but at their ill-fated kismesis. Of course loud-mouth broke the silence first.  


“Look this is stupid...”  


“I really have something to tell you...” They started at the same time. Dave just nodded his head to Karkat to speak first.  


“Look this is really fucking stupid. You're my kismesis and we hate each other right? So why is this making us nervous? We've torn each others faces apart before. This isn't that much different. So why the hell do you and you're gorgeous eyes make my blood-pusher race so fast or hurt so badly when I realize I don't want to hurt you anymore?!” Dave just stared at Karkat. His heart flipped for joy. Karkat was just as insecure. He loved him just as much. He wasn't sure about it though.  


“It is possible...” Dave faltered for just a second and continued quietly, “Do trolls ever flip quadrants sometimes? Do they ever find out that maybe the first basis on the relationship was... not entirely accurate until they get to know the person better?” He crept closer to Karkat, who was looking at him again. He held the trolls face in both of this hands. “Is it possible that maybe they were wrong about what they thought they felt?”  


“Yeah.” Karkat answered, his face inches away from Dave's. “I guess we flip all the time. It just depends on how you get... to know... the person...muff...” His breathing got heavier and was closed off as Dave's mouth met his.  


It was better than their first hate kiss, as they took the time to appreciate each others warmth, the softness of their lips, pale peach against the dark gray, the feel of them, rather than shredding them to as many ribbons as possible. Dave sighed and pushed up a little harder before breaking away to look into Karkat's eyes. They were half lidded and clouded over with sleep deprivation and a release of stress. He must have been worrying over his feelings between us for a while... But the best thing to see was Karkat smile. A genuine “I don't care about anything because I am so in love smile” on his face.  


Karkat looked at Dave who watched him cautiously. He was smiling. Not smirking or poker faced but smiling. For the whole world to see though his cool kid facade. But his caution guarded to Karkat's reaction.  


To which he responded like a teenager, using the last of his energy to push out of the chair, pinning Dave to the floor and smashing their lips together. It was so good just to kiss him out of love and not hate. Karkat would have said that it was a thousand times better. Definitely would recommend.  


Dave took to it well and kissed back hungrily, needed the compassion and love that Karkat sent through him.  


It didn't last long though. Karkat slid off of Dave's face and nestled himself in his shoulder. He was so tired. Dave hugged Karkat close. He noticed this odd rumbling. Was Karkat... purring?  


“Are you more like a cat than you let on?”  


“Huh?” Karkat said through his sleep induced state.  


“You are purring.”  


“Oh fuck off. I've always done that.”  


“Not that I've heard.”  


“Cause I was usually too busy...*Yawn*... fucking growling.”  


“This is a fuck ton better than growling.”  


“Mm.” Karkat fell to Dave's shoulder to tired to answer. Dave stood and picked Karkat up and took him to his bed. He set him down but wouldn't Karkat wouldn't let go.  


“Stay here with me tonight? Please?” Karkat whispered.  


“Why?”  


“Cause I like knowing that my matesprit is here with me. Safe. Gamzee has been threatening to look for you again.”  


“Really? You are not making that up just cause you can't get enough of this Strider, babe?” Dave teased.  


“No, that's the one of the reasons I was up worrying for you. And Yes.” Karkat said in all seriousness.  


“Move over matesprit.” Dave hopped on the bed while Karkat made room.  


Karkat curled up in Dave (he was smaller) hands around his waist and was out like a light. Dave just stared down at his pretty troll, wiping a finger over his cheeks and under the bags on Karkat's eyes.  


It had started out blacker than pitch what they felt for each other.  


Only because they didn't know anything about each other.  


Dave fell asleep quickly following Karkat.  



End file.
